FoonLudum Dare ExplorerUsers → NiallM

NiallM

Category Medals

YearLDThemeGameDivisionCategoryScore
🥇 2010 18 Enemies as Weapons The Lair of Fungal Wonder compo Graphics 4.63
🥉 2010 17 Islands The Lost Hebrides compo Community 4.42
🥉 2010 17 Islands The Lost Hebrides compo Theme 4.28

Games

YearLDThemeGameDivisionRankOvFuInThGrAuHuMoPoCmTeJoFoCo
201429Beneath the SurfaceFeill Fadalachjam4183.133.363.211.773.553.542.863.0852
201328You Only Get OnePretty Creaturesjam17
20132710 SecondsStarlit Shoot-Outcompo8202.782.822.612.702.743.433.062.7739
201326MinimalismMinimal 2 Player Gamejam1063.603.503.743.823.553.443.153.3569
201223Tiny WorldDwindling Worldscompo1213.562.884.383.023.354.092.103.9861
201121EscapeSafari Park Escapecompo3432.602.133.133.734.131.002.203.335
201019DiscoveryExplosive Transcendental Circulatory Systemcompo763.172.653.873.223.483.683.403.8114
201018Enemies as WeaponsThe Lair of Fungal Wondercompo63.833.303.833.744.633.782.113.9314
201017IslandsThe Lost Hebridescompo173.683.003.394.284.563.882.404.4233
200916ExplorationFor Queen and Countrycompo143.613.243.563.783.783.692.303.8614
200915CavernsCaverns of Lightcompo263.533.093.713.813.483.521.813.8827
200914Advancing Wall of DoomDie, you Stupid Hurdlers!compo393.383.063.634.443.883.624.063.502.734.253.00

Performance over time

overall score (left axis) percentile (right axis)

Scatterplots

Fun vs Overall

Innovation vs Overall

Theme vs Overall

Graphics vs Overall

Audio vs Overall

Humor vs Overall

Mood vs Overall

Comments by NiallM

LD18 — Enemies as Weapons

Kanbran by DrPetter 2010-08-23T08:32:00

This is a really neat idea, and the graphics and music are great. Once I'd figured out the controls though, it felt like the difficulty curve was a little shallow?

Thwackswinger 2 by squidlarkin 2010-08-24T03:55:00

Yeah, this is really nice. That game mechanic's fantastic.

Bac-Attack by Catmoo 2010-08-23T08:20:00

A good concept, but I agree that the player needs some kind of defense against the spray. It's a little too random as it is.

AVOIDAL by HybridMind 2010-08-28T02:46:00

Yeah, this is great. Really well polished And I really like the kind of minimal sound effects.

Ennameez by Martoon 2010-08-28T02:53:00

A really smart idea, and I loved being able to chain oppositions. It felt a bit too easy though; it could have done with a bit more challenge.

Head Trauma by GreaseMonkey 2010-08-23T08:49:00

Love the music. I thought the enemies were a bit too small compared to the size and speed of the player though. Would be nice if you had some control over where you threw the enemies.

Pills by Henry Blank 2010-08-29T06:37:00

Just played this on my netbook (ubuntu). It's pretty good. The ascii graphics are effective and the story's well-told. I got endings 8 and 1 (which was seriously creepy btw) on my two playthroughs.

The Lair of Fungal Wonder by NiallM 2010-08-23T05:58:00

Yeah, the toadstool guns don't go away once you've got them. At that point you're better off abandoning your scanning mission, and concentrating on just surviving.

There are two endings depending on how you play.

The Lair of Fungal Wonder by NiallM 2010-08-23T06:17:00

Oh, sorry. I know what that is. I've uploaded a fixed version if you'd like to download it again.

The Lair of Fungal Wonder by NiallM 2010-08-24T02:27:00

Thanks for the kind words guys :)

I just found a bug with the linux port where the sound was getting delayed. This was in my framework code (not anything I wrote during the weekend), so I've uploaded the fixed version to the same url.

The Lair of Fungal Wonder by NiallM 2010-08-27T08:39:00

I've uploaded a post-compo version which I think addresses the problems people have had with the game difficulty-wise. Specifically the random number generator is a lot fairer now.

An Unfinished Game by Redbone 2010-08-24T03:44:00

This is pretty nice, even if it is unfinished. It would be great to see it finished.

LD19 — Discovery

Bon Bon's Voyage by bentosmile 2011-01-07T19:06:00

I really like this. The visuals are gorgeous, and I love the jetpack. Having the cats reject you if you smell like dog (etc.) is a really neat touch.

Into the Dungeon by MoltenMustafa 2011-01-04T17:02:00

Really nice. A bit frustrating, but in a good way. Loved the aesthetic too.

The Last Moments by Randati 2011-01-04T16:46:00

Really like this. It may be simple but it's really nicely polished for a Ludum Dare entry.

Extreme Beachcombing by xeon06 2011-01-04T16:31:00

It's a neat idea, but the movement felt a bit too slow for my liking. Finding the treasures was a bit of a chore.

The Secret Documents by Danik 2011-01-07T17:42:00

Really nice. The music, sounds and visuals are perfect.

Maze of Towers by kurtwaldowski 2011-01-07T19:47:00

Hard, but a very decent rainbow islands-style platformer. Love the minimal graphics.

Cardiac Arrest by GreaseMonkey 2011-01-07T18:08:00

This is cool :) And that music's fantastic. Really liked this one.

Glassbox by hcs 2011-01-04T17:11:00

Loved the music and the platforms/background, though it's a shame the player and the coins weren't photographs too. I found the game quite fun - it wasn't hugely different from the process of learning a difficult level in a typical platformer, and the rolling inertia gave the whole thing an extra edge.

1492Island by Valandre 2011-01-07T18:26:00

This is fantastic! I'd loved to see it a polished a bit more, but it's a really neat design already.

mindeeper by cce 2011-01-07T19:41:00

Really nice. The graphics are fantastic.

stars by superflat 2011-01-07T20:22:00

Gorgeous music and visuals. I happily ran from one end of the world to the other and back again.

LD21 — Escape

Escape Cod by Tom 7 2011-08-23T19:12:00

This is a lovely wee game. The controls were a bit finicky, but I loved the idea, and the visuals and the music.

Escape from Planet 21 by whiletruefork 2011-08-24T09:57:00

This is really nice (I love how everything's on wires) but I agree that the thruster damage mechanic is a bit too punishing.

Untitled by Sandcrawler 2011-08-24T09:15:00

I really liked this, though it does feel like the scoring should be communicated better in the game. The first time I played it I was wondering where the challenge was, and it wasn't till I came back and read your description that I realised there was a bit more to it than simply picking up the dots and making your way to the bottom.

Unlock by uuav 2011-08-24T09:28:00

Love the aesthetics of this. Fun too, though I wished the cursor would have moved faster.

Luis the Thingemebober by Naarkie 2011-08-27T10:58:00

It's a little rough around the edges, but the voiceover more than makes up for that. Nice.

Lightbulb Robot Escape by Jonatron 2011-09-03T11:06:00

The zip version worked fine for me. I really like the idea of your lightbulb getting progressively dimmer, but the level design felt a little unforgiving. I kept banging my head as I was trying to jump across to other platforms, which made the whole thing very fiddly.

Safari Park Escape by NiallM 2011-08-24T18:35:00

@zed: Did you have firefox running and minimised, by any chance? I've had issues in the past with firefox forcing SDL apps to minimise on Vista. The solution is just to unminimise or quit firefox.

@Andrew: There's two ways to win: Avoid capture with at least one of your animals till turn 50, or defeat all the humans in battle. How easy that will be depends on which animals you selected to escape with. Elephants are really tough and can do a lot of damage if you gang up 2 of them on a human, hippos and owls can go on lake tiles where humans can't capture them...

The animals' different stats were supposed to make each one useful in its own way, but running out of time meant some of them are more useful than others.

LD23 — Tiny World

Save the tiny world! by davidllanos22 2012-04-23T12:36:00

This is pretty neat. I liked the mechanic of trying to lure the pigs away from the houses so you could get the NPCs there safely :)

TINY COMPUTER PEOPLE by Tuba 2012-04-23T13:35:00

I liked this. I love how instead of the usual resource types you've got things like "bitcrafter: bits from electricity" etc. Really nice.

Spaceways by roundcrisis 2012-04-25T10:03:00

It worked for me. It's pretty neat; the graphics and music are really well done. I like the mechanic of delaying/negotiating with/attacking the larger planets.

It could probably do with some kind of tutorial/in-game explanation though. At first I thought the goal was to block the roads by dropping the hippies/asteroids in their way.

Men not wearing hats by nilstastic 2012-04-24T10:26:00

It took me a while to work out what I was supposed to be doing, but I like the idea. It feels like it could do with being fleshed out some more though. e.g. the uzi seems a little unnecessary when you can just stomp on the little guys' heads.

Pixel Story by Flyboy 2012-04-23T13:21:00

I like the idea, and I thought the pixel graphics were really well done, but I found it a bit too hard for my tastes. I think part of the problem was that I'd frequently lose track of the mouse cursor; it could do with standing out from the background a bit more.

$ales by Sanguine 2012-04-23T12:22:00

I liked this. Loved the quest for the mulagi :)

Triskelion by 23 2012-04-23T12:50:00

Doesn't work for me? On both links I just get a loading bar that stops a bit before it reaches the end. I'm running Firefox 11 on Windows 7.

Triskelion by 23 2012-04-24T10:39:00

Thanks for updating it, but I'm still having problems :( It loads now, but the graphics don't seem to update correctly. i.e. the spaceship doesn't move, but I can navigate to the worlds with a little guesswork; on the world it seems I can move and drop bombs, but the graphics never update, so I've no idea where my guy actually is.

I should probably just install chrome...

Cleansing of the tiny worlds by Scrapworks 2012-04-25T08:29:00

I really liked this. It could have maybe done with a bit more enemy variation but the core mechanics were really nice.

Breathe by mcc 2012-04-24T11:13:00

Oh, I love this. I had an idea what to expect from the pictures you posted on twitter, but the music's fantastic too. It fits perfectly.

A Flying Shame by spiral 2012-04-27T10:30:00

Agree that the foreground elements need to stand out more from the background, but the graphics are pretty good otherwise (maybe a bit too much in the way of simple gradients).

The bug zappers felt a bit unfair; I couldn't tell when they were going to drop, and if I was better off staying at the top of the screen, or heading down to the bottom. Giving the player a little control of the fly's x-axis position would have made this less of an issue.

Gravity Force 3 by refreshgames 2012-04-25T08:12:00

Kind of disappointed this isn't a sequel to the legendary amiga game Gravity Force 2, but it's pretty well done for what it is. I particularly like how you slow down when your gun's fully charged; it forces you to be really precise with your shots.

My Little Friends by yanmania 2012-04-23T12:46:00

I found the main mechanic of having to jump to precise heights to hit the UFOs a bit frustrating, but I loved the robot. Some really nice writing there :)

Shoebox World by sanojian 2012-04-27T10:39:00

Doesn't seem to work for me. I get a 'sound initialization error' on the intro(?) screen and it doesn't respond to my input. Firefox 12, Windows 7.

Dwindling Worlds by NiallM 2012-04-23T14:05:00

If it's crashing for you, could you let me know what graphics card you've got? I suspect my engine's trying to do something a bit too fancy for older cards. It should fall back to a more sensible default, but if it's not doing that then it would tend to crash.

Dwindling Worlds by NiallM 2012-04-23T14:07:00

Also, [slight spoiler]the voices are hints; they explain (in a more or less cryptic fashion) what you're looking for to fix the various worlds[/slight spoiler].

Dwindling Worlds by NiallM 2012-04-24T10:58:00

Thanks for the comments guys. I'm going to do a post-compo version that smooths off the rough edges this weekend.

@everyone having issues with it not running: I've uploaded an alternate Windows version. Does this fix it?

@23: The letters KG do mean something to me, and if I'm thinking what you're thinking, that's a pretty big compliment. Thanks!

Dwindling Worlds by NiallM 2012-04-25T19:58:00

@namuol: Oh, weird. Did you get you get any sound at all?

@Pierrec: Yeah The Divine... was me :) This is kind of a follow-on from that approach.

The blinking world is about half-way through the game. It should flash white like the others when you get it right, but it shouldn't disappear. I'm not sure why it's doing that, but I'm going to make that world a bit more forgiving when I do my post-compo version, which might fix things?

Tiny World Adventure by Pavel M. Dlouhý 2012-04-26T10:13:00

Really impressed you managed to write a vm from scratch and code a game with it in 48 hrs :) The game was pretty neat too, though I could have done with more levels. Very cool.

LD26 — Minimalism

Motion by Pacifist Games 2013-05-04T17:04:00

I like this a lot. Changing the controls each time while retaining the same goal is a really neat idea. Aesthetics are great too :)

GRAViTRON by grimpunch 2013-04-29T09:32:00

This is really nice. The music gets a bit repetitive though, and it's crying out for some sort of high score table (even just a 'best' and 'last' score on the title screen).

Lightrail by Geoege 2013-04-30T10:33:00

This is very nice. I love how hard it is; something about the controls had me continually clicking the wrong button. I love when games trip me up like that.

soundscape by Ragzouken 2013-04-29T13:28:00

I like the idea, but this is hard! For some reason I had a lot of trouble judging when the heartbeat was louder/quieter, and how close I was to the exit. I think I'd have found it easier if the speed of the heartbeat varied rather than the volume.

Love the zoom out at the end, and seeing the path you traced through the map.

climbing 208 feet up the ruin wall by Porpentine 2013-04-30T10:07:00

This is fantastic :)

Newborn by Lowlet 2013-05-03T10:24:00

Woah, that's a seriously creepy ending. This is kind of impressive, though I don't think I'd want to play it again.

Slightly spoil-y hints: the game is not just an endless jumping puzzle; also make sure you explore the starting room before you leave it.

Refraction by Huskitch 2013-05-01T10:32:00

I really like this, but man is it hard. The blocks changing colour just as they're about to hit the pillar feels kind of cheap. I loved the way they sometimes change direction though, like the game's actively taunting you.

The Last Soul by Gaeel 2013-04-29T10:09:00

This is a lovely wee minimal platformer. The sound design is really impressive. Very nice.

Life & Minimalism by WiseGAMER 2013-05-01T19:45:00

This is wonderful. It's put a big smile on my face :)

Somsnosa by Mase 2013-05-04T17:22:00

Oh, this is fantastic. The sound and visuals are incredible :D

Problem Attic by ella guro 2013-04-29T14:11:00

This is amazing. The visuals and sound design are fantastic, and the glitchy platformer physics really add to the oppressive atmosphere the game has.

WAY. by celiacjoe 2013-05-03T10:47:00

This is really, really clever. I like it. Very hard though.

Dragon Drop by Tom 7 2013-04-29T17:29:00

Took me a while to figure it out, but this is fantastic. Really really cool :D

DoubleW by CharlesBoury 2013-04-30T10:39:00

Very nice. Your colour palettes are gorgeous.

Nothing is Impossible by Zekyon 2013-04-29T14:37:00

I love the visual design. I didn't get very far though; it feels like you could stand to be a bit more forgiving with the collision detection.

I actually liked the minimal music box-style soundtrack.

FOLD by jwaap 2013-04-29T13:04:00

This is gorgeous.

NinjaFlare by 8BitPimp 2013-04-29T09:57:00

This is a gorgeous game, though I agree about the odd control issues. Also, the slash and slide seem superfluous, since if you just run at full-tilt the enemies will never hit you.

Zero. by frankbsad 2013-05-03T09:56:00

Wow, this is really nice. I love the complexity that the timed shot mechanic adds. Good stuff :)

Rebound - Creatively Bankrupt by mchaza 2013-04-29T14:18:00

This is really nice. It's a brilliant wee score attack game. I would have liked a high score display though.

Perfect Crime by cmayhem 2013-04-29T16:21:00

This made me laugh :D Love how fragile and unwieldy the body is.

rainwalkers by nuprahtor 2013-04-30T10:22:00

I too never met any rainwalkers, but this is really, really nice. I love the setting and the aesthetics of it.

Nest by Sebby 2013-05-01T10:15:00

Ooh, this is neat. And surprisingly hard! Do the babies eventually grow up? Or are you just trying to keep them alive for as long as possible until the food/your stamina gives out?

(a pretty dark view of parenthood there :P )

Puck Gunners by eedok 2013-05-01T09:45:00

I like this, but even on a pad the controls are kind of unintuitive. I was expecting to rotate the turret with just the y-axis (i.e. up=rotate left, down=rotate right). It took me a while to work out that the turret's direction actually matches the stick's direction.

Moiety by aDFP 2013-04-29T16:10:00

This is gorgeous. I feel you could have maybe done a bit more with the audio though; what's there is really well done, but unless you're close to the *things*, the game's basically silent.

Dream Fishing by Sophie Houlden 2013-04-29T10:28:00

This is wonderful.

crush. by oatsbarley 2013-04-29T14:47:00

This is really nice. The music and simple visuals go together brilliantly. The difficulty curve was a bit too shallow for me though; it takes quite a while before it actually gets hard.

Gravity Worm by steve 2013-04-30T10:14:00

This is really nice, though I agree with the other commenters that the mechanics are slightly unintuitive at first.

MiniFPX by KhaoTom 2013-05-02T12:24:00

This is very nice. I love the slight acceleration downwards at the end of a jump; it gives a great sense of weight to the player.

Take The Red Orb by Gareth Jenkins 2013-04-29T10:03:00

This is really effective. Love the visuals. It's a really compelling mechanic.

MIN by s0ulcrusher 2013-04-29T09:51:00

This is amazing. The sound and visuals are fantastic. Not so keen on the FPS platforming, but once you get there the menace is awesome.

MIN by s0ulcrusher 2013-04-29T14:51:00

@s0ulcrusher Oops. Completely missed that you can glide. That does make things easier :)

LD27 — 10 Seconds

Red alert by graytest 2013-09-01T14:22:00

I like this a lot. It gets really tense when the timer's ticking down and you're waiting for a wall to move so you can grab a coin to reset it :)

DecBin by DanteZack93 2013-09-01T13:50:00

A decent arena shooter. Feel like the collision detection could be a bit more forgiving though; quite a few times I died when I thought I'd just scraped past an enemy.

Tourmaline by NMcCoy 2013-08-28T10:41:00

This is lovely. The dash mechanic is really interesting; it's tricky to master, which is perfect for a game like this.

10 Second Election by Pixelgel 2013-09-01T14:00:00

This feels like a really strong idea that's hampered by its interface. The small text makes it hard to quickly grasp who you need to appease and who you can afford to upset, and given the time limit the questions are a bit too wordy.

I think if you rejiggered the questions a bit and made the power and favor meters into large bar graphs this would be a lot of fun. The map seems superfluous to the game.

Angry Guards by Diptoman 2013-08-28T07:48:00

This is a really nice idea. It makes for really interesting puzzles with multiple solutions too, which is cool.

BECOME A GREAT ARTIST IN JUST 10 SECONDS by mcc 2013-08-28T10:30:00

Ooh, I love this. Was terrible at the exams, so spent most of my time in sketch mode:
http://i.imgur.com/Ar1LKCl.png
http://i.imgur.com/vxQikeX.png
http://i.imgur.com/pm1Fh9s.png
http://i.imgur.com/NtylAMn.png

Starlit Shoot-Out by NiallM 2013-09-01T10:57:00

Sorry for being slow to respond; have been kind of busy. Thanks for the kind comments everyone :)

@TheDreik: Sorry about that. If you pass -debug to the game on the command line, it'll generate a debug log, which *might* help me track down what's causing the crash.

@lazyeels: I'm not entirely sure how I can make it any easier. I don't know how to make a Linux binary that will work universally, so I figure distributing it as source code is the simplest solution. To reiterate what's in the INSTALL file, you need to install the various libraries that the game depends on via your package manager, then (in a terminal) navigate to the game's 'build' directory and enter the command: cmake ..
Followed by: sudo make install

Starlit Shoot-Out by NiallM 2013-09-01T19:28:00

@Starspell: Oh, I should have made that more clear. It should have left a log file named something like NiallDebugFile-1378063619.txt in your home directory?

LD28 — You Only Get One

Pretty Creatures by NiallM 2013-12-17T10:00:00

Note: It's starting to look like this only runs on the laptop I coded it on :( I think it's because I had to upgrade to the latest version of SDL for its force feedback support and something's gone wrong in the upgrade.

I'll try and fix it when I get a chance, but I'm going to be pretty busy up till Christmas.

Pretty Creatures by NiallM 2013-12-17T23:11:00

Fixed it :D

Turns out I was hard-coding the shader paths. I'm an idiot.

LD29 — Beneath the Surface

I Contemplated the Sun of Limbo by Evilion 2014-04-28T08:53:00

Oh, this is really nice. Love the way you kind of tip forward into the sea/other world. The colours are gorgeous.

Kinetectonic by headchant 2014-04-28T09:03:00

Really like this. The mechanic of raising the columns is really nice, particularly the way you can rapidly make things difficult for yourself if you're not paying attention.

PORTHOLE by Ragzouken 2014-05-05T09:30:00

Oh, this is gorgeous :) The sound is a perfect fit, and that ending is awesome.

Behind Mirror by SaintHeiser 2014-04-28T13:39:00

Oh, this is gorgeous. Didn't get very far though :( Don't think my platforming skills are quite up to scratch.

Firefish by Snicklodocus 2014-04-28T13:20:00

This is really cool. Love how the complexity rapidly increases as you free more fishes and the cooling lava starts to hem you in.

pod by TomCooper3D 2014-04-28T09:34:00

This is gorgeous. I struggled a bit to find all the blue triangles though - that part felt a little frustrating towards the end. Perhaps some kind of subtle directional hints would have helped.